Want to improve product retention rate? Starting from these 4 methods

Retention rate is the most important indicator to measure whether a product is valuable to users. Therefore, it has become one of the most concerned topics among product people in recent years. Based on my own product experience, I have summarized four effective methods to improve retention rate. I hope it will be helpful to everyone!

1. What is retention rate?

Retention rate is divided into next-day retention, 7-day retention, 30-day retention, etc. Taking the next-day retention as an example, the next-day retention = the number of new users on the first day who still open the APP on the second day / the total number of new users on the first day.

2. Why is retention rate so important?

For users, the higher the retention rate, the better the product grasps the core needs of users. As long as users have such needs, they will think of opening the APP first, and users will develop a strong dependence on the product.

For a product, the higher the retention rate, the more active users the product has, and the greater the proportion of users converted into loyal users, which is more conducive to product marketing and promotion as well as improving monetization capabilities.

3. How to improve retention rate?

Since retention rate is so important, how can we improve it? When it comes to user retention , most people think that this is mainly the responsibility of operations staff, but in fact, products can also take many effective measures. I have summarized the following four effective methods for your reference.

1. Effectively reach and awaken users

The effective reach here refers to the ability to reach users through mobile phone PUSH, text messages, and WeChat public accounts , and awaken dormant users to launch the APP. It is one of the very effective ways to improve retention. Whether it is for high-frequency APP use ( Taobao , JD.com , etc.) or low-frequency APP use (Baby Knows, Nuomi, etc.), this method may be worth a try.

Taking PUSH as an example, traditional mobile phone PUSH is full-volume PUSH dominated by operators, which sends as many messages as there are existing users. A major disadvantage of full-volume PUSH is that the accuracy of PUSH is not high. It is very likely that the information pushed is not what the user needs, which makes the user feel disgusted and ultimately increases the proportion of APP uninstalls, which is not worth the loss. Therefore, it is recommended to do personalized intelligent PUSH, that is, to combine push with portraits. Taking Taobao as an example, it can combine the user's search behavior, browsing behavior, positioning information, price preferences, purchasing habits, shopping cart product types, shopping cart product price adjustment information, etc. on the platform to push the products or merchants that the user is interested in in real time, thereby increasing the opening rate of PUSH and improving the conversion rate of orders.

2. Build an incentive system to retain users

A good incentive system can enable the platform to develop healthily and sustainably, make users stick to the platform, and is very effective in improving retention. Commonly used incentive methods include growth value membership system, sign-in system, and points task system.

The growth value membership system is a common way for e-commerce apps to improve retention. For example, for every 1 yuan spent, the growth value increases by 1. The step-by-step increase in the growth value will lead to promotion of membership levels. Higher-level members will have richer rights and interests, such as coupons, discount cards, priority access to customer service, etc. Therefore, users’ desire to upgrade to membership will be greatly enhanced, and their activity on the platform will naturally increase. Taking Nuomi and QQ as examples, please see the figure below.

Signing in is also an effective way to improve retention. Especially for low-frequency use apps, you can focus on highlighting the check-in function. Signing in can earn you points or growth points. If you sign in for 7, 14, 21 or 30 consecutive days, you can also receive gift packages such as coupons, large points, etc. These incentives can attract users to sign in continuously on the platform and improve retention. If conditions permit, it is recommended to strengthen the sign-in atmosphere on the APP homepage to encourage users to sign in continuously. Taking Get and Baby Know as examples, the homepage emphasizes sign-in and points mall. The sign-in page also captures the user's obsessive-compulsive psychology in product design, giving away big gift packages every 7 days to encourage users to sign in continuously.

The points task system is also a means to improve retention. You can build a task system, such as improving personal information, medal system, sign-in, comments, etc., to allow users to participate in tasks. In order to get certain points or rights, they will take the initiative to complete tasks, thereby improving user stickiness. Taking JD.com as an example, completing tasks can reward you with JD Beans, which can be used to deduct a certain amount of cash when shopping.

3. Enrich content and increase user browsing time

The figure below is the ranking of APP usage time released by iResearch at the end of 2016. It can be found that the TOP10 APPs are roughly divided into five categories: instant messaging, video, news and information, social , and tools .

Taking WeChat as an example, the monthly usage time has reached 1.68 million hours. Official data shows that more than 90% of WeChat users use WeChat every day, and half of the users use WeChat for more than 1 hour every day. Why does WeChat have such a high browsing time?

The main reason for this is the rich content, which not only includes dynamic messages from friends in the circle of friends , but also information from various subscription accounts and public accounts . WeChat has recently gotten involved in news information again, adding a new "Look" function to the Moments. I guess Toutiao , Sogou and NetEase News are going to get anxious. If even the product with the top 1 browsing time on WeChat has started to pay attention to content, we can no longer follow the routine.

4. Reverse the data and find the magic value

Any type of product has a magic value that suits it, and the magic value needs to be derived through reverse analysis of the data.

For example, on Zhihu, if users comment more than three times, they will stay and it is difficult for them to leave. For example, on Facebook, if you add 10 friends or more, or follow 30 people or more on Twitter , or send 2,000 messages on Slack, you can successfully convert the user into a paying user .

Then these numbers are magic values. In order to improve retention, we can find these values ​​through certain data analysis and try to achieve them through product means. For example, for a group buying APP, if users sign in for 4 consecutive days or more, the subsequent APP launch frequency of these users will be 30% higher than other users. In this case, the sign-in function can be strengthened, especially for new users. In the initial stage of use, appropriate PUSH or SMS reminders can be used to encourage users to sign in for 4 consecutive days. Then the APP launch frequency will naturally increase, and retention will naturally increase as well.

For example, if you sign in for 3 consecutive days, you can become a paying user.

V. Conclusion

Through the above analysis and summary, I believe that everyone has a certain understanding of the methods to improve retention. Of course, this article only lists several methods that are often used in work. I hope it can inspire others. Please give more valuable ideas and communicate together. Thank you!

Mobile application product promotion service: APP promotion service Qinggua Media advertising

The author of this article @史小球儿 is compiled and published by (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting! Site Map